Dad finally spoke up, tugging on my mother’s arm. “Let’s go back over to the house and let them

talk.” She nodded, but she looked longingly at the door to the house, knowing her grandson was in

there.

“Our door is always open, Sienna,” my dad told her.

She sniffed and smiled. “Thank you.” The look on her face told me just how alone she had been all

this time. I wanted to strangle her father. It was a shame I wouldn’t get the chance. How the fuck had

he done this to her?

My parents walked down the stairs and I waited. I wanted to say something to her, but I wasn’t sure

what. Explaining my “average” comment would sound insincere now.

“I’ll bring him over when he’s ready,” she told me, then opened the door and stepped inside before

I could say anything else.

“Come on, son. Let them alone,” my father called after me.

Frustrated as hell, I turned and followed my parents home.

When we got to the house, my mother looked back at me and frowned. “I don’t know what you

think is attractive, but apparently Dustin was the only one with good taste in females. That girl is a

beauty. Even just out of bed she is breathtaking. Nothing fake about her. She’s the real thing. She’ll

make a man a good wife one day. Shame you can’t see what a jewel she is.” Then she turned and

walked inside.

Dad chuckled and I looked over at him. “What?” I snapped.

He only laughed harder. “Reckon that ‘average’ comment was about the stupidest shit I’ve ever

heard. I may be an old man, but I ain’t blind. Hell, boy, she’s a looker. She left average a long time

ago. But then, you know that. Be careful what you say, because your momma will make sure the world

knows.”

He continued to laugh as he went inside.

I glanced back at her house and remembered the young girl who used to run across the street in bare

feet and a pair of cutoff jeans and a shirt tied up above her belly button. All that red hair flying, and

her smile big and bright. Dustin would meet her out front, and she’d fling herself into his arms and he

would swing her around.

I think it was about the time she had turned sixteen that I decided staying away from her was really

fucking important. Because I had watched her run into my brother’s arms, and I’d been jealous. The

emotion had startled me and taken me a moment to understand. I’d never been jealous before or after.

Because I had known in that moment that I’d somehow lost a part of my soul to a girl who would

never be mine.

I spent the next seven years proving just how much I didn’t need love. I just needed pussy, and I

could get it easy. I had fucked Sienna Roy out of my system with each redhead who wasn’t her. With

each girl I bedded, I’d felt further and further away from any emotion.

When Sienna had left, she’d taken a piece of me with her. I had suffered, and I was so trashed for

months that I couldn’t even remember half the shit I did. I had wanted her, and she had been my

brother’s. She had also been too damn young.

I was a fuckup and would never be good enough for the likes of her. My brother was what she’d

deserved. Someone like him was still what she deserved. Not me. Never me. I wasn’t good enough. I

wasn’t a golden boy. I couldn’t make her happy. But I’d be damned if I let anything hurt her again. I

could protect her. And Micah. They weren’t mine, but in my heart they were.

SIENNA

“What if I told you that Dewayne was your daddy’s older brother? Would you like having Dewayne as

an uncle?”

Micah went very still in my arms, and his frown grew. This was not how I wanted to do this with

him. I was hoping to watch Star Wars with him and have that as a happy distraction. But after our

morning visitors I knew this had to be done now. I wanted him to have Tabby and Dave Falco in his

life, and from what I had just seen, they did too. It was time Micah had grandparents to dote on him.

“Dewayne is my daddy’s brother? But . . . he didn’t tell me that.”

This was the tricky part. Micah was five, but our life had made him grow up fast. Emotionally, he

was a lot older than he should’ve had to be.

“Dewayne didn’t know about you until the other day, when you thought he made me cry. I had

thought he knew. I’d sent letters, but they never got them.”

“Who’s they?” Micah asked.

“Dewayne’s parents. Your daddy’s parents. Your grandparents.”

Micah’s eyes went wide with wonder. “Mama T and Dave are my grandparents?”

I nodded. “And they want to know you very much. They loved your daddy a whole bunch. And they

want to know his son. That’s why they came over this morning. They’re very excited to know you’re

their grandson.”

Micah’s eyes got bigger. “I have grandparents? I thought you said I didn’t.”

Sighing, I kissed his head. “I didn’t want you to think that your grandparents didn’t love you. I

thought they were turning their backs on us since your daddy was gone. So I was protecting you.”

Micah was quiet for several minutes. I let him think about all this and didn’t speak. He fiddled with

his thumbs as he studied his hands. Every once in a while he glanced back over his shoulder, out the

window to the house across the street. I couldn’t imagine what was going on in his little head. Saving

him from any more pain was my first concern.

“Do they have pictures of my daddy?” he asked. I’d only had a couple in my purse when I had been

shipped off, and that was all Micah had seen of his father.

I nodded. “They have a lot. You will even see pictures of him when he was your age. You can see

just how much you look like him.”

Micah fidgeted and looked out the window toward their house. “Can I go see the pictures and have

some cookies?” he asked, turning back to me.

Tabby would probably never be without chocolate chip cookies again. “I am sure they are waiting

anxiously for you to come over there. Do you want me to come too? Or would you like me to let you

visit alone?”

Sending him over there alone terrified me. I wanted to hold his hand through this, but just like

through everything else, Micah was a rock. He handled things with a strength that was unexpected

from a five-year-old.

“I want you there. She’s makes really good cookies. You can eat some too.”

I wanted to let out a sigh of relief.

“Okay, then. Let me get dressed and brush my hair, and then we can walk over there. Why don’t

you go get dressed too?” He was till wearing his Superman pajamas.

He nodded and hopped up, then ran off. This had been much easier than I’d anticipated. But then,

he hadn’t had time for it to sink in yet.

I followed behind him and went to the bathroom. Before I did anything else, I stood there and

looked at myself. I had always thought I was pretty. Guys seemed to like me. I wasn’t a raving beauty

or anything, but my body wasn’t bad. My legs were long and I had C-cup boobs. My hair was red, but I

had made my peace with that a long time ago, as well as the freckles on my nose. But knowing

Dewayne had described me as average stung. No . . . it was a serious blow to my self-esteem. Maybe I

had aged more than I realized. Maybe being a struggling single mom had put some wear and tear on

me. I leaned toward the mirror and checked for wrinkles. I did see my freckles, but no wrinkles yet. I

guess my nose was kind of stubby and my arms weren’t that toned. I didn’t have time for the gym.

Any sign of a tan had faded.

I guess I was average. He hadn’t called me ugly, at least. I could live with average. Besides, I was

Micah’s mom—who cared what a man thought of me? It wasn’t like I was looking to start dating. If